Read on to learn if workers respect their boss, why I spent hours reading lines to a camera in a fancy studio, and how I’ve learned to calm my nerves ahead of big moments.
Workforce Poll
This week, I asked,
“Do you respect your boss?”
The Results:
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YES |
NO |
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YES
- “It’s written plainly throughout the company and is a true safety culture.”
- “Leadership always talks to us about taking our time.”
- “Everyone in safety has started in the field.”
- “They’re flexible when personal issues arise.”
- “They train us on safety and keep us up to date on CPR.”
- “I feel like I have stop work authority.”
- “I feel like I have a voice.”
NO
- “They expect you to work your life away.”
- “They say they care about our safety but push us to break the rules to meet production.”
- “Safety, yes, but well-being? No. Get back to work.”
- “When issues are brought up, management seems annoyed.”
- “I asked for window guarding on our machines but was told it’s too expensive.”
- “We’re told if we don’t like something, we know where the door is.”
- “Yes, until it starts to cost them money.”
- “All about what YOU can do for the company.”
Weekly Update
No travel update this week…I slept in my bed all week. I'm slacking.
Despite the consistency of my circadian rhythm, my week was a different kind of whirlwind.
Beyond the typical meetings, podcasts, and phone calls, I spent my entire Monday and Tuesday in front of a camera in a fancy studio filming for BuildWitt Training.
When we began creating training videos last year, we mostly shot in the dark. The content stands up today, but luck was a big ingredient.
In contrast, this week's shoot was our most efficient and buttoned-up yet. To prove it, we're producing the same number of videos in two months as the previous seven. Not only that, but they're twice the quality.
Why am I involved? The team roped me into doing all the on-camera speaking for each training track. Fortunately, our team of writers, industry experts, and industry partners craft the content I speak about. Then after we shoot, they put it together with impressive graphics and footage from the field. Thank goodness for them because if it were only me, it wouldn't be worth much.
The result will soon be hundreds more training videos about how to be a great laborer, grade checker, operator, pipelayer, field supervisor, and overall leader!
Business Lesson Learned
I’ve hinted at this before, but we’re in the middle of raising more investment to continue growing BuildWitt Training. I’ve been on the road honing our messaging and meeting with potential investors from the Dirt World for months now, and now we’re meeting with investment firms.
Talking about BuildWitt and the incredible work our team’s doing is easy. However, I get nervous when the stakes are seemingly higher, like meeting with venture groups casually saying they have $1 billion to deploy.
I’m sure most of you can relate — no matter your understanding of the subject, you don’t present as well if you’re nervous. I hadn’t fully understood what to do about this until I heard Ed Mylett speak about elite athletes last month.
He said elite athletes are fanatical about preparation—they practice and analyze the game endlessly “off the field.” The fear of failure or the weight of the event motivates them to push hard.
However, when it’s time to make the final putt or throw the winning touchdown, they remove themselves from the pressure of the outcome and become entirely present. Leaning on their preparation, they deliver.
Imagine a cartoon lightbulb above my head as Ed spoke about this. I need to prepare intensely for my meetings, but no matter their importance, I must remove myself from the pressure of the outcome beforehand.
We had six big meetings this week, and I practiced this each time. I wasn’t perfect, but I could perform far beyond the meetings before… And by perform, I mean I was me, not who I thought they wanted me to be.
Podcast
On the Dirt Talk Podcast this week, the production team combed through the past six months of episodes to address some of the most commonly asked training and leadership questions people ask us. While what I have to say is typically of little value, maybe you’ll find something hidden within this episode worth listening to!
Vlog
It’s a good week in the vlog world!
First, we released a video featuring Quinn Cat and Sukut Construction in Southern California. We saw repowered Sukut 657’s in action; then, we toured the Quinn Cat shop to see what it takes to repower these monster machines. Don’t know what a repower is? You’ll learn all about it after watching this vlog!
Second, if you’re looking for less education and more nonsense, Eric and I visited our friend Dane Cotten at DC Excavation in Bozeman, Montana. Dane was kind enough to let us play around with his excavators, new skip loader, and D6. It was a treat!
